I have the pleasure to taste this beer thanks to a trade with GrizzlyAdams (and Gcurlow for sending me a bottle that I used to tweak this review). Thanks!

Alpha Klaus is a dark brown with ruby highlights and two fingers of light brown head that is both fluffy and sticky.

Alpha Klaus has an aroma that is packed with juicy, bitter, hops. Behind the hops there is a bit of toffee and roasted flavors, but the hops are the star here.

The flavor leans heavily on hops once again, but the malt is a little bit stronger than in the aroma. The grapfruit from the hops mixes with a toffee flavor from the malt. The middle has a pine-resin hop presence that pairs up with a roasted flavor. Some chocolate floats around in there, along with a ton of bitter, citric hops. As the beer warms a coffee flavor developes in the background. The hops definitely dominate here, which is no surprise from Three Floyds.

The mouthfeel is good and creamy with a moderate amount of carbonation. The finish is a little bit oily from the hops. I definitely dig the feel.

Alpha Klaus Xmas porter is a good one. Sometimes I don't like porters that are over-hopped, but this one suits me just fine.

22 ounce bottle acquired in a trade with sman262, thanks for giving me the opportunity to finally try this brew, poured into my Russian River pint glass tonight after a rough day

A-Dark black color with no light shining through, small 1/4 inch tan head that was very creamy, some retention, very impressive lacing

S-Floral hops, hints of oak, some different fruits, mostly roasted malt and a variety of nuttiness, faint coffee, lots of dark chocolate

T-Dry at first with some floral hoppiness, then a little sweet in the middle with hints of cream and coffee, as well as dark chocolate, finishes with a bitterness that I cannot really put my finger on, hint of raisins as it warmed, chocolate really came out then, tasted a lot like its aroma, went down easily

M-Sweet and bitter mouthfeel, small amount of carbonation, thick bodied for a porter, taste lingered nicely, dry on the back of the tongue

D-Could have drank a bomber and then some of this, took a while to drink but very smooth, ABV is not too high, alcohol is hidden, easy to drink

Have been wanting to try this since I initially got into craft beer, did not disappoint and was even better than I thought it would be, one of the better porters I have ever had, wish this was a year round release and available in my area but neither of those is a possibility, I would love to drink this again some time, highly recommended

Pours a very dark brown in color. There was at least a two inch head sitting atop this beer. Smell is subdued hops and some chocolate malt. Taste is much more of the malt with a little bitterness as well. There is a grassy and pine flavor of course coming from the hops. Pretty decent medium full on the mouthfeel.

Appearance: What you expect from a porter. Black beer with little head to speak of.

Smell: Coffee and chocolate with a hint of floral hops.

Taste: Nice roasted coffee and sweet chocolate up front which gives way to a sweet citrus hop flavor. The two end up mixing as you finish the sip and go together very nicely.

Mouthfeel: Smooth with little carbonation. The flavor left behind is sweet yet hoppy.

Drinkability: This may be the best porter I have tried. Very smooth and not too heavy. The nice addition of a hoppy characteristic at the back end really adds a nice touch to the roasted sweetness you expect from the style. The complexity is what puts it head and shoulders above others. Highly recommeded to see what a porter can be.

A: Pours a deep brown, nearly black, under a fingers worth of tan head. Pretty good retention and nice lace.

S: Smells of a light coffee, slight wood, a little bit of fruit and citrus hop. Good aroma.

T: Very nice fruity sweetness and citrus up front, followed by a mild coffee and ending in a light roasted malt and moderate roasted bitters. Citrus, mostly grapefruit, hop qualities hang around throughout. A speck of chocolate to found as well. Very good tasting porter.

M/D: Full bodied, slightly creamy, carbonation is light. Drinkability is really good on this one. Makes me think of an IPA with roasted malt. My first FFFs brew, very impressed.

Tons of different scents picked up in the nose. Rich, bittersweet chocolate. Dark stuff. Caramel, light coffee, and sugar present. Fresh floral hops are present behind all of this.

Flavor carries through on the smell and then some. Bitter chocolate flavors, sugared malts. A bigger hop presence than the smell also. At times its up front and sometimes it follows the chocolate and other flavors this one has. The thing I enjoy about the hops is that they provide a spicy backbone to the beer. Somehow this makes it feel like a serious holiday porter. Excellent balance even though there's so much going on.

Mouthfeel is pretty creamy but stinted slightly by the bitter, spicy hop presence. It works extremely well in the flavor but takes away from mouthfeel a little. For some reason coffee is one of the main flavors that sticks with me, though it isn't a big player in smell or taste. Hop burps of the floral variety and again spicy and a little bitter/dry finish.

Drinkability is great. If there was a way to keep the hop presence that contributes greatly in taste and round out the mouthfeel this would be an unbelievable beer. Regardless, it's one that I wish was more available and I could enjoy a bomber of any time. Another unique brew from FFF, yummy!

Got this as my first bomber of Alpha Klaus ever and one that I've been waiting to finally drink. Want to thank my girlfriend for the opportunity of trying this one since it was a christmas gift from her.

A- looks like the typical porter with a dark, chocolate brown head that is completely opaque and is rather clear, not foggy. Actually has a bit of a sheen to it. A nice small head that stays throughout and floats barely on the top of the bottle; kinda like a bit of foam on the top of a coffee. The head is actually made up of a bunch of small bubbles that sit right on top. I really like the color of this one. Nice and thick head that poured in my friend's pint glass since we split the bomber. looks like thick cream sitting on top of dark coffee

S- wow well people did not lie when they said there is hops coming off of this one. Especially kind of intense hops for a porter where hops are usually not represented. There is also a bit of hints of spices and chocolate that comes up with the hops Also there is a smell of a drak chocolate.

T - the main taste of this one that first hits me is hops that just attack the tongue. This is the typical FFF citrus hops that seem to characterize their brew. Odd to see such a hop presence in a porter. Then after the hops fades away it fades away into your more typical porter aspects. There is a nice chocolate presence and actually a bit of a grainy sugar sweet presence that goes to offset the dark chocolate presence. After awhile the hops actually seem to come back to me as well and I think they may actually become a bit stronger and blend in with the chocolate aspect of the beer. There is also a nice milky aspect to the beer, makes it rather creamy and actually imparts that cream taste in the mouth. Afterwards there is a light hops presence that sticks around in the mouth.

MF - Rather creamy and smooth on the mouth without only a light amount of carbonation that seems to come in later. I love the milky aspect of the beer that goes with the taste of the beer alot. Afterwards, the light hops presence leaves a slight tingly feeling in the mouth and makes you wnat to have another drink.

D - overall a great porter from FFF and an interesting interpretation of the style that makes me want to keep having a sip after a sip to experience all of the interesting taste within this one. there are just so many different flavors in the porter that I keep wanting to discover. I love how this is like a mix of a hop bomb and a sweet porter too; gotta love the FFF boldness. Also, the creamy milky aspect makes it really easy to sip down and enjoy. I will pick this up every holiday season and enjoy it whenever it comes out. Also I have to say this is much better than the barrel aged Klaus since you can actually taste the hop profile that makes this such an interesting brew.

pours nearly black, the head foamy and brown, the lacing pretty decent. Nose is full of piney hoppy bitterness, some citrus as well, but chocolate is also quite evident along with a muted char. Smells great, though I'm not really getting the coffee I expected.

I'll admit it - I'm underwhelmed by the taste. Probably hyped this one up too much in my mind. Very enjoyable though I had hoped for something that seemed a little more...I dunno, spicy? There's heavily roasted and charred malts, chocolate again, more coffee than I noted earlier, and of course lots of hops. I love that side of the beer. It seems pretty balanced despite all those hops, which are more citrusy and less pine than I noted in the aroma.

Finish is lightly drying, carbonation light, body medium-high. Nothing detracts from the drinkability, and I find myself taking big mouthfuls to let the full flavors wash over my palate, but I've got no real desire to have another tonite.An excellent beer. I just think I still prefer Top Sail.

Poured very black into my Stone RIS stem. Blacker than any porter I've had to date. Super nice, fresh-looking head filled with glistening popping bubbles, off-white in color.Wonderful aroma of piney hops, french roast coffee grinds with a mild whiff of smoke.Cocoa on the first wave of taste, with a supple body of hops and delicious malt with a nice hoppy finish. As with most beers from 3F, no skimp on hop flavor. Absolutely delicious and very thankful to land a few bottles this year.

Pours deep dark brown, almost black, with a off-white head that holds a decent cap throughout the glass. Aroma is a great mix of big hops and big roast malt character. Flavor is very much the same, with the hops coming up front, followed closely by a big roast malt flavor, with lots of coffee like notes. Body is medium.

Pours from a 22oz bottle into a pint glass. Nearly opaque with chocolate highlights underneath. Small mocha head that doesnt last very long. Nice bit of lacing down the side of the glass.

Aroms is actually a bit hoppy. I havent smelled hops in a porter before, but I guess a Holiday porter is as good a time as any to throw in some hop aroma. Plenty of good chocolate and coffee aromas as well.

More hop flavor as well. The roasted grains seemed to take a bit of a backseat to the hop flavor. Sweet up front as well. Hop bitterness in the end. Sticky on the tongue.

Glad I got to try this. I could see myself having a couple of these once or twice a year. There was a little too much sweetness and that could get a bit cloying after 22oz. A nice solid beer that is certainly different than any other porter I have ever had. Originality points but point detractions for "style" purposes.

Pours dark brown with some garnet notes. Decent head that fadesa little quickly. Still, its a pretty beer. Smells a bit sugary but this is balanced by nice roasty and chocolate notes. The taste is beautifully balanced between candi sugar, citrusy hops, and chocolate. Their is a very slightly metallic finish, but that is not too unusual in a porter and it doesn't distract from the brew. Mouthfeel is smooth and slightly sweet without being sticky. Delicious- its the candi sugar that adds a sweet note that makes this beer. Also,its a nice change of pace from all the winter warmers around.

Evidently the proprieter of the Capital Ale House in Richmond gto a hold of the last case of this or any other Three Floyds beer being sold in the state of Virginia. Lucky us.Poured a magnificent dark brown-black with a generous tan head. Excellent lacing was left with each sip.Dark roasted malt and coffee, caramel and brown sugar, mild hops and bread, dark fruit and maybe rasisin and plum? More going on here than I can nail down, but excellent.The taste was amazing; this lives up to the hype. Chocolate and caramel malts, dark fruits and midly bitter floral hops. Very complex.The motuhfeel was my favorite part, and totally unexpected. It seriously starts off like any other porter, and I was about to be disappointed until I swallowed. The something strange happens. After you swallow, the semi-bitterness is gone, replaced by a fantastically smooth and mildsly sweet creamy-ness. Its like you just drank a totally different beer. Fantastic and very unique. Medium-full biodied.Overall an excellent beer, and worth the hype for sure.

a - poured a three-fingers thick tan head into a goblet, left thick coating on the sides of the glass and a nice sheet throughout. the body was a dark black color.s - lots of coffee and chocolate aromas with a hint of breadiness and understated piney hops. very complex.t - roasted coffee, chocolate with a sweet piney flavor.m - very slick and coating but drinks clean.d - terrific beer.

This is Three Floyds winter offering for the holiday season. This beer pours with a dark almost opaque viscosity. Hints of chocolate and roasted flavors. A subtle hop flavor that fits to the porter style. Very drinkable beer for the winter season. I was also lucky enough to try this beer at the brewery

beautiful dark porter with a thick, tan head that stcks around well and leaves great lace. chocolate, toasty malt, piney hop and a touch of oak and maybe coffee in the nose. tastes of milk chocolate, then hops, with a mildly bitter dark chocolate and coffee finish. big body for a porter and very, very tasty. one of if not the best porter i've had to date.

The American Porter is still an "iffy" style for me, let's see how this one does.

Pours a full black body with a one finger light khaki colored head. Good lacing on the sides of the glass. Smell is pretty nutty up front with a nice hop bite. Sweet caramel malts with a smokey oak aroma. Fresh coffee grounds find their way in the nose towards the end. This is a really wonderful smelling brew, by far the most complex porter I've stuck my nose into. Charred wood flavors to begin with which is followed by molasses and brown sugar. A mocha french roast flavor midway blended with mild pine hops as well. Aftertaste is a nice roasted barley with a hint of hazelnut. Mouthfeel is medium to full with a somewhat weak carbonation, almost water-like. I found this extremely drinkable, and just a notch above GL's Edmund Fitzgerald IMO.

Into an imperial pint glass, pours a near solid black, even when held right up to a lamp, with a creamy tan head, sticks around for a bit before receding to a film thin in the middle and thick at the edge. Some nice lacing forms with some sticking.

The aroma is full of chocolates (and cocoa as it warms), with traces of pine hop, coffee, and toasted malt. The body (and taste, for that matter) are much fuller than the nose, a big body with fine carbonation and a smooth texture, with little awareness of the alcohol besides a slight warming. The taste is the best, very well conceived and balanced, the chocolates, coffee and thick roasted malt just melt into the mouth as the pine and hop oils spritz across the tongue, and comes to a close with a dry, dark chocolate.

Let this one warm up to let it all out, its a delicious beer that only gets better as you drink it... how can it get any better than that!?

Poured a deep thick dark brown with ruby edges, some elusive light sneaks through. The nose is filled with chocolate, roasted malt, smoke, earthy pine, and whiffs of alcohol. First sip carried right off the smell, with up front notes of smoky strong bittersweet chocolate, bold roasted malts and dark grains, and strong hoppiness, finishing with a light porter-type mustiness that fades to an unmistakable well hopped bitterness. Good body with a balance of consistency and stickiness. Extremely drinkable - goes down smooth but not too heavy. An outstanding winter release.